Background and Justification

Innovation is well recognized as the key of the main drivers of economic and social development. There is overwhelming evidence of the volume and quality of the impact of innovation on economic growth and job creation. Science parks, innovation centres business incubators, and technology transfer offices are the natural playgrounds of supporting these activities.

Unfortunately, technologies are not adequately exploited for enterprise and socio-economic development in Lebanon. There is a need to reconfigure a formal role in the economic cycle for all the stakeholders – i.e., the university, the government, business, venture capital and the community, each of which has special roles to play in stimulating the high value added venture creation process in Lebanon.

Objectives

The objectives of the workshop are:

To effectively support the Lebanese stakeholders to enhance and strengthen their capacity in innovation and commercialization skills of various actors in the fields.

To support the creation and/or the capacity-building of the intermediary organisations in charge of implementing support activities for SMEs;

To enhance collaboration and the transfer of knowledge and best practices among innovation stakeholders nationally and regionally.